ISAAC CALLED JACOB
Genesis 27:46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?
Genesis 28:1 ¶ And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. 3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
Here we have Sonship (Isaac – the long awaited son of Abraham), calling forth Servitude (Jacob – see Genesis 29:20,27), after Rebekah is grieved by the affect that these solely physical marriage unions had brought upon her household. So with the influx of ceremonial carnality, the Old Testament church has lost it’s spiritual quality by becoming nothing but a social order! It’s system was described by the apostle as “weak and beggarly.” Galatians 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Therefore there was a turning from it after Christ came to fulfill the law! Hebrews 7:18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. 19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. For once the Lamb of God was sacrificed, the old covenant was taken away and the second covenant of grace forever replaced it. And there will be no third! Hebrews 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
And national Israel was to be replaced by the “holy nation” of the spiritual, heavenly born church! Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet. 1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
But to accomplish this, the fruit of sonship (Jacob), had to be sent into a foreign country to obtain a bride to bring back into the promised land. For those natural brides of Canaan were but sources of grief, as are the tares among the wheat. So we have here a picture of Christ, (revealed by Isaac, another man with a supernatural birth, as both his parents bodies being dead to reproduction, Romans 4:19), calling and sending forth his servants into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature. See Matthew 28:18-20.
And the Lord Christ’s believers are all as much bought with a price as ever was any slave, or servant! 1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The true church is a kingdom of servants under the King of all Servants! Matthew 20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
All of their standing among their fellow believers, as well as their standing before the Father is measured by their submission to servitude. Luke 22:26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
For in reality, that is all they have ever been! For no human being, since the fall of Adam, has been free from serving sin! It is only fanciful imagination to think anyone is of themselves ‘captain of their fate.’ Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
It is just a matter of which master one shall serve! Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the servants of sin shall be rewarded with eternal death; while the servants of grace shall be rewarded with life eternal! Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Salvation does not render a soul to be a free agent, to serve himself. It renders one free from the bondage and servitude of sin, to the liberty of serving Lord Christ! Romans 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
We must notice that those first four words of our Genesis 28 passage are quite unique. For we have just noticed in the previous chapter the deception of Rebekah and Jacob, the murderous hatred of Esau, and the blindness of both Isaac’s eyes and heart. And those things do not tend to make a happy family! But here we are, reading that Isaac calls Jacob in order to bless him! – No rebuke! Just a blessing! And since there is no hint here of Isaac’s blindness, there is no need of mentioning Jacob’s deception. For as we pointed out in our last article, (“When Isaac Was Old,” dated April 10, 2016), everything that is recorded in chapter twenty seven of Genesis depends on the two “that’s” of verse one. They are – “that when Isaac was old,” and, “so that he could not see.”
For once Christ’s servants have been accepted by the Father, standing in the raiment of our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, there is ever afterward no condemnation! And even before the redemption was accomplished, the surety of Christ to provide that perfect redemption caused the Father to be, as it were, blinded to our sin, as far as damnation and wrath are concerned. Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: For it was only the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, (Revelation 13:8), who kept man from being plunged into eternal damnation immediately upon their fall! The promise of Christ’s perfect redemption ‘bought’ the Father’s longsuffering!
Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
And it was Christ as that Surety, (see Hebrews 7:22), as it were, ‘pledged’ to redeem fallen mankind that kept men from immediately going into eternal damnation as do the angels which fall! (See Hebrews 2:16 Amplified, and 2 Peter 2:4). And it was Christ’s perfect redemption which cleared all the sins that were past! Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
And when redemption was fully accomplished, the Father was completely satisfied, and began to make the application of that redemption by the Holy Ghost, to every individual of those elected by him at their times before appointed and within the bounds of their habitations. Acts 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
For just as Jacob was blessed in his elder brothers “good raiment of Esau,” so the believing servants of Christ are only blessed in his righteousness alone! Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Revelation 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
“Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.”
But now, in our present passage of Genesis twenty eight, we find Isaac calling Jacob in order to bless him face to face, as Jacob, and not Esau! For there is an effectual call of the Holy Spirit of those elected in Christ. This call speaks the power of regenerating grace sovereignly into the heart and souls of the lost man. It quickens him unto life who was once dead in trespasses and sin. And along with this is always given the gifts of faith and repentance.
An apple tree does not give apples in order to become an apple tree. It gives apples because it IS an apple tree! And the sinner does not repent in order to be made alive in Christ. He repents because he has been given life by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit! For a dead man can do nothing until he is granted life!
Dear Reader, stinking Lazarus could not come out of that tomb until Christ had given the sovereign and effectual call for him to do so. And since Lazarus was dead, so were his ears to even hear that call! The voice of God had to both make his ears alive to hear while, at the same time issuing power into his body to carry out that sovereign command! No sinner ever wants a new heart until he already has one!
And let us also take note that Isaac, the father, was not sending his son, Jacob anywhere Isaac had not previous been. Genesis 25:20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
Sheep follow! They are not like cattle, which must be driven! And the one out in front of them is the Shepherd! John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Listen as the Lord God speaks to his sheep. Deuteronomy 31:7 And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. 8 And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
And he continues to assure them of his faithfulness to go before them! Psalm 85:13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps. 89:14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
And so does the Lord Christ assure believers in his kingdom’s work. Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
But not only Isaac, the father, had gone before him, but also the eldest servant of Abraham, who ruled over all that he had, picturing the Holy Spirit, (see John 16:14,15), had also made this trip. The Holy Spirit is given to every believer. Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 1 Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 1 John 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
His is that voice from behind that secretly directs every believer. Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
For the Holy Spirit not only goes with you, but also in you! John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. For salvation is a marriage union with God! 1 Corinthians 6:17.
Pastor Gene Breed
April 15, 2016
